It Happened One Night
by RoseTylerBadWolf
Summary: It was just another slow night at the diner Grace worked at; she never thought anything interesting would happen to her. Then, the mysterious man in the bowtie showed up, and suddenly, everything in her life changed. It just...happened one night. (My first Doctor Who fanfic; enjoy! Constructive criticism is appreciated; Doctor/OC; rated T; may be M in later chapters)
1. The Man in the Bowtie

**Chapter One: The Man in the Bowtie**

For Grace, it was just a slow, humdrum evening at the diner she worked at. It was always like this; she never expected anything else, anything…interesting to happen.

Until the mysterious, eccentric man in the bowtie showed up.

It was getting late, and the end of her shift was near, only a mere 30 minutes away. She looked at the clock longingly; only a half hour more, then she could go home and watch her show that she recorded. However, she still had customers to serve.

"Grace, take Table Seven," her best friend, Cassie, a cook, said from behind the order window.

"Got it," Grace replied and readied herself, armed with her pad of paper and pencil. She walked up to the table, not looking up as she did so. "Hello, what would you…" She trailed off as she finally looked up at the man at that table, and kind of stared.

The man was pretty young, with a hell of a chin. His hair was slicked back sort of, but, unlike how other guys did it, it looked attractive. He wore a tweed jacket, and the kicker: he wore a bright red bowtie along with it. It looked a little dorky, but cute.

She sort of smiled. "Hello…"

The man smiled back. "Hello!"

Grace was distracted for a second, then shook herself from her thoughts. "Um, I…um, I just wanted to know what you want to eat."

"Do you have Jammie Dodgers? Do you sell those?" the man asked. She didn't know whether he was serious or not, but decided to not question it.

"I'll…see what I can do…" she replied, slightly puzzled but slightly amused. She walked back to the order window with a tiny smile on her face.

"So? What's the order?" Cassie asked, annoyed. She noticed the smile on Grace's face. "What?"

Grace was whispering as she replied. "Did you see the guy at Table Seven?" She pointed her thumb back at the strange man. Cassie looked over Grace's shoulder at the man, and then looked back at her and smiled suggestively.

"Seriously? That's all you can think about with other men?" Grace questioned. "I swear, that's the only thing you think about."

"Never mind me. What does he want?"

"He asked if we had Jammie Dodgers," Grace said with a slight look of confusion. "Do we sell those?"

"No, but I keep a stash in my locker. You could use those."

"Thanks, Cass. You're a life saver." As Cassie walked to the back to get them, Grace turned to gaze at the man. At first, he didn't notice her looking, but then he turned his head and saw her. He smiled a bit; it was a cute smile. Grace blushed a little and then turned back to Cassie, who came back with an unopened pack of strawberry Jammie Dodgers.

"Thank you, Cass." She took the Jammie Dodgers and walked over to the table, setting them down in front of him. "You're in luck; my friend just happened to have some. Hope you like strawberry."

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. She smiled.

"They're free of charge, since we don't really sell them," she explained to him. The man looked up at her; there was a certain kind of…feeling showing in his eyes, and she couldn't figure it out.

But the man's eyes showed age; a tremendous amount of it for someone who looked so young. They were sparkling blue eyes…beautiful, old eyes…

After only a few seconds, she shook away those thoughts and checked her watch. Her shift was done.

"Well, enjoy." She walked away to go into the back lounge room and clock out. Once she did, she took her coat and purse from her locker. As she walked out, slinging her purse over her shoulder, she saw the man just as he was walking out. She stared after him, then she decided she wanted to follow him. As casually she could, she walked out the door and started in the same direction as him.

She wanted to figure out this mysterious, peculiar man for herself.

Grace followed a fair amount of distance behind him, so it wouldn't look suspicious. He turned the corner and, without making a lot of noise, she jogged up to the corner and peeked around it.

She saw him enter a 1960s-looking blue police box, and was perplexed. _He lives in a police box? _Grace thought.

Again, she decided to follow.

She sauntered up to the door as casually as she could. Taking the handle, she pulled on it, and surprisingly, it opened. Without thinking what was inside, she stepped in and closed the door behind her.

Nothing would prepare her for what she would see next.


	2. Grace Meets the Doctor

**Chapter Two: Grace Meets the Doctor**

Grace stared around in awe and amazement at the beautiful sight in front of her. Her jaw dropped.

The blue police box she had entered wasn't anything she'd expected. There was a giant control panel in the middle of the room and several staircases leading to other rooms and other hallways. The room had a warm, inviting feel to it.

As curious as she was, she decided to go farther. She walked up the ramp leading to the control panel and just stared at it, studying it. It had many flashing, colorful buttons and many, many switches. There were also several levers placed strategically around it. Grace walked around it, just letting her fingers barely brush the top of the panel, getting a feel for all of the controls.

"Wonderful, isn't it?"

Grace jumped a little and turned around at the voice behind her. It was that man in the bow tie.

"Yes…yes, it is, I suppose…" she replied, still in awe. She turned back to the control panel. "What is this thing?"

"It called a TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"So, it's like a spaceship?"

"Sort of, yeah." Grace started to feel a little dizzy. She placed a hand on her head and sat down on the floor. The man rushed to her and kneeled down. "Are you alright?" His face was very near hers.

"I-I'm fine…" she stuttered, looking away, her face flushed red. The man chuckled a little and stood up, offering his hand. Reluctantly, she took it and he helped her up. "So, who are you, exactly?"

"I'm the Doctor," the man said, a slight smile on his face. She was puzzled.

"The Doctor? Doctor what?" she questioned, now intrigued by him.

"Just the Doctor."

Grace gazed at him questioningly. She and this man, who called himself the Doctor, had never even met before. Yet, she had heard about him before.

The Christmas invasion about eight years ago, the Christmas star the next year, that alien invasion in the middle of Downing Street, the planets in the sky….she figured it had something to do with him. However, she decided to keep that little detail to herself.

She shook hands with him. "I'm Grace. Grace Willingham." He shook hands with her.

"Grace….that's a lovely name." She blushed a little.

"Um….thank you." Grace tried to change the subject. "So, what does this thing do?" His eyes lit up delightedly, and he started walking around the control panel as he explained.

"The TARDIS can travel anywhere in time and space. It can take me anywhere in history and to any planet in the universe that I choose." She was stunned.

"Anywhere?" She had to confirm this.

"Anywhere, yes." He came back around the control panel and leaned against it, gazing at her. "All of time and space, everything that ever is, was, or could be….where do you wanna go?"

She looked at him strangely. "Go? As in, go with you?" He nodded. She thought for a few moments. "I want to go…hm…I can't think of anything…"

"Why not?" The Doctor seemed perplexed by this.

"It's like… has it happened to you, when someone asks you what your favorite book or movie is, and all of a sudden, you just forget?"

"No, it hasn't," he replied. She cocked her head to the side, and just stared, studying him.

"You're a strange man…has anyone ever told you that?" she asked. He kind of smiled at her sadly.

"They never really stop." Grace walked closer to him, studying him further. She gazed into his eyes, and could see the weight of so many years and so much sadness. The urge to hug him and cuddle him and tell him it was gonna be alright was overwhelming her….but she managed to shake those thoughts and backed away from him.

An idea popped into her mind; she'd finally thought of a place she wanted to go.

"Take me to Las Vegas in the 1960s." He smiled and then ran to the console. He pressed buttons, flipped switches and turned a couple knobs. The TARDIS started to take off. The wheezing and groaning sound caught Grace off guard and once it took off, she stumbled a bit and backed into a railing.

As he focused on the console screen, he said, "Don't worry about that; just a bit of turbulence. You'll get used to it." Once the TARDIS stabilized, she felt she was able to gain her balance back and she stood up from the railing.

"Is there somewhere I can change? Someplace this big, I wouldn't be surprised if there was…" she said. He pointed up a flight of stairs behind him, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Up those stairs, down the hall, take a left, should be the second door on your right."

"Thanks." She jogged her way up the stairs and walked slowly down the hallway. Following his directions, she turned left and slowly made her way to the second door on her right. Carefully, she grabbed the brass handle and turned it, pushing the door open as she did.

Grace was greeted by a long room with racks upon racks of clothing. Under the clothing were dozens of pairs of shoes lined up neatly against the wall, almost OCD-like; they were arranged by color and size. Her eyes widened.

She started to go through the clothing, looking for any plus-size dresses she could wear. It was difficult to find anything in her size anymore. Then, something long and red caught her eye and she pulled it from the shelf.

It was a low cut red dress, with a leg slit in the long skirt and short sleeves. And it was in her size. So, after taking off her own clothes, she unzipped the zipper and pulled it on carefully whilst standing in front of a full size mirror. When she fully put it on and zipped it up in the back, she liked what she saw.

It was form-fitting, so it showed off her curves in all the right places, showed off just enough cleavage and was perfect for the era. She grabbed a pair of black heels and put those on. As she stood back in front of the mirror, she decided that her ponytail didn't look good, so she let down her hair and her brown curls flowed over her shoulders and down her back. "Ah, much better…" she mumbled to herself as she shook out her hair a little. "Now, a little lipstick to finish it off…" Grace grabbed her red lipstick she had in her purse and applied some. "Perfect."

Then, she heard a knock on the door. "Are you ready yet? I've already landed." She heard the Doctor's somewhat impatient voice.

"I'll be out in a second," she replied.

"Well, I'll be downstairs." She listened for his fading footsteps, then decided to exit the room, purse in hand. Her heels clicked on the floor as she came out of the hallway and started to walk down the steps.

The Doctor didn't notice; he was whistling as he fiddled with some controls on the console, making some adjustments. He didn't even realize she was there until she was all the way down the steps and she tapped him on the shoulder lightly.

He stopped whistling as he turned around. "Sorry, I was just working on some…" he trailed off as he saw Grace. His eyes widened significantly as they quickly traveled down her body, then back up quickly.

"Is this appropriate?" she asked innocently, knowing perfectly well that she had rendered him speechless.

"Um….uh…" the Doctor stuttered. _You're a thousand year-old Time Lord, the bloody Oncoming Storm, for God's sake, and all you can do is go "Um"? Pull yourself together, Doctor._

"Doctor? Are you okay?" Grace asked, and he snapped out of his thoughts immediately.

"Sorry, I got…distracted…" he said, his eyes wandering down to her chest unintentionally. Grace raised an eyebrow at him.

"Um…Doctor?" She snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention. He immediately glanced back up.

"Sorry. I'm just…you look…yowzah…" _Really? You couldn't come up with a better word?_

"I'm guessing that a compliment," she inquired. Slowly, he nodded. "Well…thank you, Doctor." She turned away from him, and blushed a little.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, he stepped beside her and held out his arm, as if to take it. "Well, shall we step outside?" She smiled a little, and took his arm.

"We shall."


End file.
